CallSafe Mobile Personal Emergency Response System

Nicole and DJ Swartwout are happy to announce their new venture, CallSafe. Previously, the husband and wife duo were with CallTeks, a security solutions firm that focused on homes and businesses. If you recall the iconic commercial that says, “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” CallSafe builds on the idea of a response system that embraces today’s burgeoning technology and takes it to levels that were never before thought possible.

Partner with CallSafe Nicole Swartwout explains the transition. “With CallTeks, we offered a lot of great security solutions, from security systems to CCTV, access control, even phone systems and data networking,” she says. “I was heavily involved with several industry associations including ESA-the Electronic Security Association, AzAA-Arizona Alarm Association, and SIA- Security Industry Association. I chaired several committees for ESA and served on the Arizona Alarm Association Board of Directors.” Being involved with these organizations allowed Swartwout to keep her finger on the real pulse of the trends of the industry and she had been following an innovative new technology called "mPERS" (mobile Personal Emergency Response Systems) for several years.

Swartwout explains, “The more I looked into the upcoming mPERS technologies, the more compelled I was to offer mPERS as a personal security offering. The impact is amazing! These devices are not only used for ‘help buttons’ for independent lifestyles for the growing aging in place population, but I believe mPERS can be a key component in campus safety, reducing sexual assaults for students and lone workers, too.”

She continues, “I had an immediate connection and passion to take on this new offering, one that is personal and close to my heart. I believe that in life, ‘If we have the opportunity, we therefore have the responsibility to act.’Getting behind mPERS and promoting such technology for personal safety can positively impact, even save lives.”

While with CallTeks, Swartwout was concerned that the mPERS technology that she was so passionate about would be lost or muddled down with all the other offerings of that company. “I had a vision of a company that solely provided mPERS solutions and were the experts in the space,” states Swartwout. “I brought the idea forward to my partner and was fully supported to move forward on the business vision, separate from CallTeks. I can’t express in words how amazing it is for someone to look you in the eye and say “I believe in you, I believe in this idea, we are going to do great good, and we will fully support you in everything you need.”

CallSafe has emerged as a personal safety company and they are the experts in mPERS technology, mobile personal emergency response systems. “Unlike traditional ‘help Pendants’ (we’ve all seen the commercials with the frail lady on the floor), our devices work anywhere,” explains Swartwout. “Traditional pendants only work from the home because they are connected to a base station or receiver. When the help/medical/fall pendants are connected to such as base station they only have the speaker in the base so if help is needed, they cannot be heard in more remote areas of the home, plus the distances for pendant connection are only about 1,000 feet, which is not great. Moreover, such devices require installation and often ties up a phone line.”

CallSafe mPERS devices work off of cellular networks. They work anywhere - at home, on a hike, or at the grocery store. “CallSafe devices are ready to use out of the box and don’t require installation or a landline. Most importantly, 2-way voice is connected right in our pendants and they are water proof,” adds Swartwout.

Making a change in your working career is not always an easy decision, but Nicole and DJ Swartwout have always been on the same page when it comes to business vision. “DJ and I have always worked together,” says Swartwout. “We met as paramedic partners working for LifeLine Ambulance (almost 10 years ago now). We launched CallTeks together with our partners and have now moved onto this new adventure that connects us back to our medical roots. I think the thing that is most exciting for us is really connecting back to our roots, doing something that helps people and the communities around us to live a more secure lifestyle and have simple peace of mind.

Swartwout explains, “I spoke earlier about the differences with our technology verses the limits of the traditional technologies that allowed us to segway into mPERS. What is absolutely the ‘game changer’ is that all of the benefits with CallSafe mPERS technology are enhanced by the fact that our devices are affordable. Often, devices are free and service is around $30 a month - a price point for peace-of-mind that is within reason. CallSafe is also working really hard with different scholastic and corporate organizations to offer the devices and service complimentary to employees and students in order to promote safe campuses.”

“I would like to think that as a millennial who is willing to take chances, like going from the security of being a partner in a successful security company to breaking out and launching a new venture, that yes, CallSafe and I are ones to watch in the industry,” Swartwout says. “Some experts say it is a fragile time in the security industry, with the IoT world… I think it is exciting and full of opportunity for those willing to be nimble and innovative with the advances in technology! I have been honored by Security Systems News in 2015 as a ‘20 under 40’ award winner.”

She continues, “In 2016 we hope to accomplish many things, but what I am absolutely, hands down looking forward to the most is a research project we are working on behind-the-scenes. We are collaborating with people in both the private and nonprofit sectors to observe data about how technology like mPERS can help prevent and deter sexual assaults, increase reporting efforts, and thus creating a change in criminal behavior in certain areas.”

In another development, the Swartwouts met up with Lady Gaga and Vice President Joe Biden in Las Vegas as part of a forward-thinking initiative. Swartwout explains, “They are the ‘celebrity and government’ backing behind the ‘It’s on Us Campaign,’ something we support heavily as CallSafe. It’s On Us is all about intervening, reducing, preventing and reporting sexual assault and rape on campus. A change in culture desperately needed. One in three women will be sexually assaulted (or worse) in their lifetime, the greatest percentage, during their first year in college.”

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